The sound of a great medieval battle, blended with some truly dark, majestic synth. This gives me chills every time. Makes one dream of ancient greatness.

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Any other favorites?

This is a relevant thread to every subgenre ov Heavy Metal and it can be traced back to a single source:
The beginning ov "Black Sabbath" by BLACK SABBATH.
There's something crucial to this artform in the ESTABLISHING THE SETTING ov an Heavy Metal album, the WHERE and WHEN ov the tale to be spun.
From the otherworldly spacecraft hum that introduces BOLT THROWER's "Realm of Chaos" to the genocidal anarchy ov a NYOGTHAEBLISZ intro, the simulation ov ambient soundscapes serve to enrich the proceedings by implying a specific place and time for them to occur in, and even more importantly, an entire COSMOLOGY for the action to take place in and a certain extramusical quality that approaches the cinematic.
I remember bands like INCESTUOUS, (whose only EP still remains unchallenged in some DM aspects) and others in the late '90s were really running with the concept, freshly inspired by the likes ov "Evil Dead" and so forth, some ov them actually OVERDID it with run-on intros or simulated-ambience-type material inbetween songs...that's ANOTHER subject, when the intros go on too long...it's interesting, like the listener themself can't escape the setting ov the album.
And then there's the art ov actually INTEGRATING the intro or ambient material INTO the main compositional body, like, perhaps ABRUPTUM in their famous album.

I will mention Kathaarian Lifecode by DT, but also recently Ive come to realize the horror and pure fear of the nuclear dimensions of Blasphemophagher "The III command.." intro when you look at the artowork...an experiment gone wrong. Dimensions awakened through occult nuclear magic._________________ON DISCOGS:
www.discogs.com/seller/Iscariah667